1. Field
The present invention relates to clothes dryer equipped with a heat exchanger, and more particularly to a clothes dryer equipped with a heat exchanger, which is capable of washing the heat exchanger using condensed water generated from the heat exchanger.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, clothes dryer have a clothes drying function, namely, a function to blow hot air into a drum defining a drying chamber, and thus to absorb moisture from an object to be dried, thereby drying the object. Such clothes dryers are mainly classified into an exhaustion type clothes dryer and a condensation type clothes dryer.
The exhaustion type clothes dryer uses a system in which humid air discharged from the drum is exhausted to the outside of the clothes driver. In this case, an exhaust duct is needed to outwardly exhaust moisture evaporated in the drum.
The condensation type clothes driver uses a re-circulation system in which humid air discharged from the drum is condensed in a heat exchanger to remove moisture from the humid air, and the resultant dry air is again supplied to the drum. In this case, it is difficult to use gas as a heat source because a closed loop of a dry air flow is formed.
In the above-mentioned condensation type clothes dryer, condensed water is generated during condensation of the humid air because the humid air discharged from the drum is condensed in the heat exchanger to remove moisture from the humid air. The condensed water is pumped by a pump to be drained to the outside of the clothes driver.
However, when the condensed water is drained using the drainage pump, as mentioned above, generation of noise and increased power consumption occur due to the driving of the drainage pump.
Furthermore, foreign matter, for example, lint, which is separated from clothes, is included in the humid air discharged from the drum. When the humid air, which includes the foreign matter, passes through the heat exchanger, in particular, an evaporator, the foreign matter adheres to the evaporator, thereby degrading the drying performance of the evaporator. In order to solve this problem, there is a conventional proposal to install a filter at an inlet through which humid air is introduced into the evaporator. In this case, however, a new problem occurs in that the flow rate of blown air is reduced due to the filter, so that a reduction in drying efficiency occurs.